Hitchcocks Forum

Recently my 500 efi had developed a slight tap under certain conditions. It isn't there all the time and I can't pinpoint it but it sounds like an intermittent misfire or the auto decompresser opening every now and then. However, there isn't the momentary slight check in speed that usually accompanies both of those. Also it doesn't do it when idling so I'm thinking clutch or gearbox. I can accelerate with no problem and only get the noise when pobbling along at 30 in third or fourth. Sometimes it sounds as if it's coming from the left and sometimes from the right.I know it's not much to go on but has anyone any idea??I used to have a strategy for dealing with unidentified noises in my car, I turned up the volume on the radio an, hey presto, the noise vanished, but I can't do that on the bike.

Primary chain clatter on the overrun? check the tension and lube level..

It's an auto tensioner an lube is through the engine oil.

Yes Jim i'm sure your right but you have a unexplained noise so you have to start somewhere.

Just wondering if the auto has turned itself into a broken and seized manual.. Maybe check for clearance behind the clutch drum whilst in there..

However first check rear chain and chain guard along with all brackets and fasteners.. Head steady and rear petrol tank brackets..

I take your point Gwilly. Unfortunately I no longer have a garage and my (rapidly) advancing years, and a bum knee courtesy of a love affair with a Goldie when I was 17, prevents me from crawling around the street trying to fix it.It isn't used a great deal so I'll try and nurse it along until its service in a couple of months and then get the mechanic for an opinion, always assuming I can recreate the problem.

I kept my EFI for just under 2 years and sold it before the guarantee expired. The engine was always just as noisy as my 2007 iron barrel 535, despite hydraulic valve lifters. Kept me awake pondering what it was, until I sold it. Replacement is a 2011 Bonneville T100. Purrs along in almost deathly silence. Only slight noise it develops is if I let the rear chain get a little dry. I sleep a lot better now.

Good luck Trevor CH

Ha Ha yes Jim book in the service and the noise will disappear sure as eggs is eggs..

Sympathise with the old injury, broke my arm and wrist at the same age thinking i could handle a Norton at speed.

Stuff of yoof, we were invincible,immortal if we lived that long.. Hope its something simple.

That nails it Gwilly, at 17 you are convinced you are immortal but as you get older you realise that isn't so. With my knee it was a case of roaring up to a roundabout that I had taken many times. Approach at speed, change down, flick right and left and accelerate away. Unfortunately this time, when I came to change down, I found that the gear lever had vibrated loose and dropped off so my speed was, shall we say, a little too hot to get away with.